Industrial control and automation systems are often used to automate large and complex industrial processes. These types of systems routinely include wireless networks that facilitate communications with a wide range of industrial field devices. The field devices can include wireless sensors, wireless actuators, and wireless controllers. There are multiple industrial wireless network protocols being developed. One example wireless network protocol being developed is the ISA100.11a protocol.
In some circumstances, users may need to operate field instruments using different protocols for the same application, and these instruments may need to communicate with each other. Since different wireless protocols are used, users are often forced to have multiple wireless networks that communicate with a common wired control system. This typically requires separate wireless infrastructures for each wireless protocol. For example, an ISA100.11a network and a Wireless Highway Addressable Remote Transducer or “W-HART” network (each with its own communication and management infrastructure) may both be required if a user wants to use a combination of ISA100.11a and W-HART instruments for an application.